How do I get from the airport to Tel Aviv?

The Israel Railways train from Ben Gurion is the right answer for most arrivals. The station sits below Terminal 3, one level down from customs, signed in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Trains run roughly every 20 minutes to three Tel Aviv stations. HaHagana is the first stop, about 12 minutes out, and it drops you within a 10-minute walk of Neve Tzedek and the southern neighborhoods. HaShalom comes next, beside the Azrieli Center towers. Savidor-Central, the third stop, connects to northern Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. A one-way ticket costs 13.5 ILS ($4.60). Buy a Rav-Kav transit card at the station counter rather than a paper ticket. The same card works on Dan and Egged city buses, and it saves scrambling for change at a kiosk. The platform is air-conditioned, which matters more than you'd think. Step outside Ben Gurion in mid-August and the humidity wraps around you at 70%, heavy and warm even after the sun drops.

Here is the thing about Ben Gurion that catches every first-time visitor. Shabbat shuts public transit down every single week. The last Friday train typically departs around 14:00, sometimes earlier depending on the season. Service resumes Saturday evening after sunset, usually between 20:30 and 21:00. No buses either. If your flight lands Friday night or anytime Saturday, the station will be dark, the platform gates locked. The only sound is ventilation humming through Terminal 3's empty concourse. This is the weekly rhythm in Israel, not a disruption, and planning around it separates a smooth arrival from a confused one. Taxis are the only ground transport operating through Shabbat. The rank outside Terminal 3's ground floor stays staffed, and the regulated fare to central Tel Aviv runs about 160 ILS ($54). Mind you, drivers can legally add a Shabbat surcharge of roughly 25%. That brings a Friday-night ride closer to 200 ILS ($68).

Outside Shabbat hours, taxis and ride-hailing both work from Ben Gurion. The taxi rank sits at ground level below Terminal 3, where warm exhaust-tinged air collects under the concrete overhang. Fares are set by the Ministry of Transport. To Rothschild Boulevard or the Dizengoff area, expect 150-180 ILS ($51-61) on the meter. Gett is the dominant ride-hailing app in Israel and tends to run 10-15% below rank taxis on most routes. It shows the fare upfront, so there is no curb-side negotiation. Download it before your flight. Uber is available in Israel but its coverage currently remains thinner than Gett's, and surge pricing on late-night arrivals can push it past the regulated fare. You might hear about the sherut, the shared minivan that once ran from Ben Gurion to Tel Aviv for around 50 ILS ($17). That Tel Aviv-bound service has been scaled back. Nesher still runs shared rides to Jerusalem at about 64 ILS per person. That said, for Tel Aviv the train or Gett is faster than the 20-minute wait for a sherut van to fill.

A few practical notes about landing at Ben Gurion. Passport control takes 30-60 minutes on a busy day, and security questioning tends to be more thorough than at most European airports. Stay patient, answer directly, and it passes. Once through customs, ATMs in the arrivals hall dispense shekels at interbank rates. The exchange counters beside them take 5-7% in commissions, so the ATM wins even factoring in a foreign-transaction fee. Activate an eSIM or grab a tourist SIM before you leave the terminal. Plans from Partner or Cellcom run 50-80 ILS ($17-27) for 10-14 days of data, and you will want connectivity immediately. The walk from HaHagana station to most Neve Tzedek hotels runs through narrow streets that smell of jasmine and shawarma grease after dark, with English signage thinning out fast. Google Maps handles the routing fine, but it needs a live data connection to do it.